May 23, 2025
Cluster of Excellence decision: Faculty researchers involved in two funded clusters
Of the six research projects submitted as full proposals, a high-caliber, international panel of experts selected five as Clusters of Excellence, which will receive further or new funding from 2026. This is a great success for TU Dresden as a whole. From the Faculty's perspective, it is particularly pleasing that, for the first time, researchers from the Faculty are also involved in two of the approved clusters.
REC2: Responsible Electronics in the Climate-Change Era
Electronics offer numerous advantages for our lives, but at the cost of enormous resource and energy consumption and the generation of large quantities of electronic waste. The REC² cluster creates the scientific basis for the electronics of the future: new material platforms, innovative component concepts and integrated systems with which responsible electronics can be realized in an ecologically, economically and socially sustainable way.
Members of this cluster from the Faculty are Samanthi Dijkstra-Silva, Edeltraud Günther and Dominik Möst.
CARE: Climate-Neutral and Resource-Efficient Construction (TU Dresden together with RWTH Aachen University)
Conventional concrete and cement make up 80 percent of building materials and are responsible for more than 8 percent of global CO2 emissions during production. The CARE Cluster of Excellence at TU Dresden (spokesperson: Prof. Viktor Mechtcherine) and RWTH Aachen University (spokesperson: Prof. Martin Claßen) aims to use climate-friendly building materials, new construction principles, manufacturing technologies and circular economy tools to show ways towards sustainable construction.
From the Faculty, Edeltraud Günther is involved in this cluster.
Statements:
Samanthi Dijkstra-Silva:
"It is particularly nice to see that at a time when there is a lot of international political push-back for research in sustainability, the German research landscape recognizes the urgency and importance and is supporting the Cluster of Excellence on "Responsible Electronics in the Climate Change Era. I look forward to interdisciplinary work with colleagues who see sustainability assessment as an important component of their research projects for the future."
Edeltraud Günther: "I am very happy. Both topics are so important for the future of our planet."
Dominik Möst: Congratulations and thanks to Yana Vaynzof, Andreas Fery and the REC2 team for the success and funding of the Cluster of Excellence “Responsible Electronics in the Climate Change Era”. I am delighted to be able to make a contribution from an energy industry perspective to responsible electronics in the interdisciplinary project environment at a time of rapidly increasing energy demand in the IT sector.”